As you may have seen, heard, or read, there was a very short lived trend last month on TikTok, X, and Instagram Reels that uncovered a subset of people that apparently ruminate on the Roman Empire with a shocking frequency. I’m not one of them. But the meme did cause me to step back and ask ‘Well what random thing DO I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about?’ For me, at least over the last decade, I think that ongoing thought in my head revolves around demographics.
Today I sent my daughter off to her first day of toddler “school.” This new phase will be her first time leaving the house for the whole day on a regular basis. While I feel a sense of relief (to now be able to work from home without distraction), I can’t help but think about what the future might hold for our family at other big life stages. We live in an expensive area with access to excellent public schools and are living a lifestyle that means we may not be financially independent for quite some time. This might mean we’ll have to make sacrifices from time to time especially in comparison to others living in the same area. Despite lamenting about it constantly, I am actually at peace with it. At the end of the day, I just want my kids to live happy and peaceful lives and I believe I have and will continue to set them up as best I can to do so.
As a young lad in high school, I was a mediocre student for reasons that I won’t get into, but could be a whole other discussion. When I got to college it was a different story. What changed? Goals. For some odd reason I got it in my head that I wanted to graduate with highest honors and once I made that commitment, everything changed. All my behaviors became about the goal. I made it to every lecture and sat in the front row of every classroom so I could be closer to the action. Sure, there was the occasional party till 3AM and then being in a lecture hall on campus for a 7AM class, but I never missed one.
Most clients know we preach asset allocation, which is an investment approach that helps spread your risk and opportunity across a variety of stocks, bonds and other investments. Well, it hasn’t worked so well this year. Despite some equity indices being up for the year, the average stock is up only about 1% so far and bonds are generally down again, after having their worst year in generations. What is one to do?
I would like to introduce our newest employee, Thomas Kone. I met Thomas and his family through our shared love of basketball. He is a good friend of my son Hayden, and we have known him and his family since the 7th grade (my, how time flies!). Thomas and Hayden played middle and high school basketball together. Thomas reached out to me earlier this year looking for a summer internship, and he joined us in June. As an intern, he was influential in helping us find new ways to more effectively utilize our technology platforms. Thomas brings a skill set that is, quite honestly, something we haven’t seen and he adds tremendous value to the team. He is currently working on his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science while helping us out on a part-time basis. It’s a really great feeling to see Thomas grow up and blossom right before my eyes, and I couldn’t be happier to have him join the One Wealth team. Welcome Thomas!
As the resident technology lead at One Wealth Advisors, last week I had the opportunity to attend the Coachella of tech conferences: Dreamforce. Dreamforce is sponsored by Salesforce, a company that builds Client Relationship Management (CRM) systems for organizations, including OWA. The theme of this year’s conference was Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it can help different types of companies, including Financial Planning firms, in a variety of areas, such as predictive analytics, risk management and AI enhanced customer solutions.
Estate planning is an integral part of wealth management, and it’s essential to have several basic estate planning documents in place including a will, a durable power of attorney, and an advance medical directive. It’s also important to ensure that the wealth you’ve worked hard to accumulate is effectively and efficiently passed on based on your wishes. Additionally, if you live in a state like California, you will want to avoid the costly and public probate process.
As human beings, sometimes when we set goals for ourselves, we want to see results fast. But focusing on immediate results can get in the way of what we want to achieve in the long run. Think about the get-rich-quick schemes or what the equivalent would be for weight loss, for example. Focusing on the result may lead us to get impatient and do things to self-sabotage.
David’s writing last week touched on perfectionism and creating meaning during his twenties. As someone in my twenties who thinks a lot about what creates meaning in my life, lately I’ve been using the framework of pathways.
When I was in my twenties, I spent the better part of a decade trying to be, as I now reflect upon it, perfect. I was in therapy every week, I read every book on metaphysics that I could get my hands on, and, well, I even did several retreats at Esalen (look it up). Sometime in my forties I arrived at the conclusion that I was already perfect . . . as perfect as I was ever going to be, and as perfect as I needed to be.
